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Show :30 'sT. THOMAS AND TORTOLA. louse. The central city of these little creatures occupied a fork formed by two of the branches ; and from thi8 point, streets or avenues were seen diverging over the tree in every direction, all teeming with a busy population. On the last day of the year we embarked on board the brigantine Eclipse of Trinidad, Captain Aarestrup, which we had hired for a cruise among the islands to the windward, and having taken an affectionate leave of the friends who "accompanied us to the ship," set sail for Tortola. The distance between the two islands is small, but our voyage was slow and boisterous; and after passing along the highly picturesque coast of St. John'sanother Danish island, much more cultivated than St. Thomas-we were overtaken by the night, before we could make the passage between its eastern extremity and Norman's island, which leads to Tortola. A night of discomfort and sea sickness was, however, amply repaid by a safe entrance the next morning, between fine rocks and mountains, into our desired harbor. A skilful negro sailor, whom we picked up at St. Thomas, piloted us along a somewhat difficult course, to Roadstown in Tortola. The island as we approached it presented a highly interesting appearance; its mountains peaked and picturesque, and the plains below clad with sugar cane. With some difficulty we found board and lodging at a tavern close by the sea, kept by a singular colored old lady, named M'Ciaverty. Her rooms had been occupied up to that day by some of her relatives who had been dangerously ill with fever, and the children ST. THOMAS AND TORTOLA. :n of the family were creeping about the house, in a most emaciated condition. No alternative offered but to take the apartments; we were assured that there was no danger, and we happily escaped without the least infection. The constant draughts of a delicious easterly breeze sweeping through the house, were indeed sufficient to prevent it; and that we were not in the way of starvation, was evident, from the sight which caught our eye, of a number of green turtles in a small reservoir of sea water, before the door of the tavern. TI1ese animals abound among the rocks and keys of the Virgin islands, and are common fare at the tables of the gentry. We could not but feel an intense interest in making our first visit to a British island, peopled with emancipated negroes. Out of a population of nearly five thousand, there are scarcely more than two hundred white persons; but we heard of no ineonvenience8 arising from this disparity. We had letters to Dr. Dyett, the Stipendiary Magistrate, and to some of the principal planters, who greeted us with a warm welcome, and soon relieved us from our very natural anxiety, by assuring us that freedom was working well in Tortola. One of our first visits was to a school for black children, under the care of Alexander Bott the pious minister of the parish church. It was i~ good order-the children answered our questions well. We then proceeded to the jail, in which, if my memory ~e~ves me right we found only one prisoner-with the Jador, and the judge! Our kind friend, Francis Spencer Wigley, Chief Justice of the British Virgin Islands, happened to be there, and cheered us with |